World Cup: Ipswich Town fan on his Lowestoft 'flag wars' in Qatar

A fan whose flag was draped behind a goal in England's win over Senegal has described how he had to fend off an "army of people" to secure the slot.

Bob Green, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, said friendly "flag wars" between fans was a feature of a pre-match build-up.

He has taken the flag, featuring his hometown and Ipswich Town's badge, to each England World Cup game in Qatar.

It has attracted local interest but he said he often had "to explain where Lowestoft is and show them on a map".

The flag was visible to TV audiences around the world when Bukayo Saka scored in the 57th minute of England's 3-0 victory on Sunday night.

His flag also features the England three lions badge and the names of two pubs in Lowestoft - The Flying Dutchman and The Blues Bar.

The Ipswich Town season ticket holder said he wanted to get both venues a bit of international exposure.

"It's tough times for pubs and just wanted to do my little bit to help," he said.

"There is a lot of interest in the games locally [in Qatar]; they've really embraced it and whenever it is hanging up people ask about all the branding and want to have their picture taken with it."

A former RAF serviceman, Mr Green explained how getting his flag into good, visible locations had been like a military operation.

"You have to be the first person in the stadium to get a good spot and once you get in, you can't get out," he said.

"[On Sunday] I got in about 18:10 and kick off was 22:00.

"There's a whole army of other people trying to get their flags in a good spot as well so it's like flag wars to get a prime position.

"We ask the press photographers behind the goals to get pictures of our flags for us, so we at least get a decent shot of them.

"It's all good fun."

Mr Green said he would stay in Qatar for as long as England remained in the tournament and, as a member of the England travel club, he had conditional tickets for the quarter final, semi-final and final.

He said that everybody out there had been "good as gold" and the whole tournament was "really, really well run".

"When you walk into a stadium, it's like walking into a hotel and there are helpers absolutely everywhere," he said.

"I came out with a lot of reservations... but from the apprehension of going, it's been absolutely brilliant."

England face France in the quarter-final on Saturday.

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